How a brand's sales team works

The idea

A brand's sales team is a ladder of people, each looking after a bigger area and each judged on a number from the level below. The person a stockist meets most — the sales officer — is judged mostly on what the stockist buys from the company this month. Understanding that one fact explains most of the conversations in the godown.

The ladder

Titles change from company to company. The shape does not.

The DSR (distributor sales representative) is the one who walks the beat and takes orders from Ravi Stores. He is usually on the stockist's payroll. Some companies pay part of his salary or an incentive. This is why he sometimes seems to have two bosses: the stockist who pays him and the SO who gives him targets.

Who reports what

• DSR, every day: orders taken, bills, outlets visited, outlets billed, collections.
• SO, every day: primary orders booked from his stockists, secondary sales, market visits.
• ASM, every week: area total against target, problem stockists, scheme progress.
• RSM, every month: region total, trade spend used, stockist changes.

Each level adds up the level below. If the stockist's secondary data is wrong or late, the error travels all the way up.

At the counter: a month-end visit

It is the 25th. The SO walks in.

SO: Anna, our primary is at 62% with six days left. Your godown is low on the ₹10 pack — I checked the stock sheet. Take 40 cases today. The month-end slab scheme closes on the 30th; at 400 cases you get the extra 1%.

Stockist: Last month also I took 60 cases on the 29th. Half are still here. And ₹3,10,000 is stuck in the market.

SO: I'll put a retailer scheme on the ₹10 pack from the 1st. And I'll ride the beat with your boy on Thursday to clear the old stock.

Stockist: Make it 25 cases. And the August display claim — it is still not credited.

SO: I'll follow up with the area office today.

Everything in this chapter is in that talk. The SO needs primary to reach his number. The stockist is worried about stock days and market credit (chapter 3.1). The scheme is the SO's tool to make the deal work (chapter 3.8). And the pending claim (chapter 3.13) is the stockist's best bargaining point.

The SO's day

1. Morning at the stockist's point: check stock, book the primary order, brief the DSRs.
2. Market working: ride one beat with a DSR, visit outlets, place the new product, check displays.
3. Evening: send the day's report — primary, secondary, outlets, scheme photos.

A good SO spends more time in the market than in the godown. An SO who only comes to the godown in the last week of the month is chasing primary, not building the market.

Common mistake

Loading up at month-end to please the SO. Extra primary helps his target this month. But if secondary does not follow, the stock ages, the next month starts heavy, and expiry and damage claims follow (chapter 3.14). Buy what the market will sell in your order cycle (chapter 3.11), and use the pending claims to bargain, not the godown space.

Where you'll use this

Chapter 3.7 explains why primary and secondary are watched separately. Chapter 3.16 covers how the DSR's incentive is built. In Part 4, the daily reports that the DSR and SO send are exactly what a good system produces automatically from the bills.

Check yourself

1. Who pays the DSR, usually?
2. What number is the SO judged on first?
3. In the month-end talk, what did the stockist use to bargain?

Answers

1. The stockist, sometimes with part of the salary or incentive from the company.
2. Primary sales — what his stockists buy from the company.
3. His high stock and market credit, and a claim the company has not yet settled.